SaaS startup Zarget raises $6M led by Sequoia India

Zarget plans to use the funds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses optimise their web presence in real time.Shadma Shaikh | ET Bureau | November 03, 2016, 08:22 IST

Zarget, a startup that provides various web optimisation solutions as software as a service (SaaS) to enterprises, has raised $6 million (about Rs 40 crore) in a round of funding led by venture capital firm Sequoia India.

The Series-A round also saw participation from Accel and Matrix Partners, both of which had already invested in Zarget in the seed stage six months ago when the Chennai-based startup raised $1.5 million (about Rs 10 crore).

Zarget plans to use the funds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses optimise their web presence in real time.

The startup is currently building an integrated solution that will help companies manage optimisation of their websites thro ugh a single tool at one-tenth the cost of competitors, its co-founder Arvind Parthiban said.

A former executive at established SaaS provider Zoho, Parthiban told ET, “Our investors were impressed by the fact that most of our team members had previously worked with Zoho and had pulled off a world-class product.“

Zarget has attracted more than 1,000 customers in 10 countries, including Landesk in the US, BizTalk360 in the UK and Buscape in Brazil, within four months of its product launch.

Shailesh Lakhani, MD at Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said: “Zarget has an exceptionally talented team who've spent the last 10 years developing business automation software that's already in use by leading enterprises today.“

Founded in late 2015 by Parthi ban, Naveen Venkat and Santhosh Kumar, who spent a decade at Zoho building business productivity tools and customer relationship management, Zarget has raised $7.5 million.

Parthiban said the company targets annual recurring revenue of $5 million and 20,000 customer mark in the next two years. It also looks to double its team size from current 45 members in the next six months. Indian SaaS startups are witnessing global investor attention, receiving a total of $195.6-million funding so far in 2016.